If National Tequila Day on July 24th is just another excuse to drink some tequila, I am in full support.
Did I drink Tequila Sunrises in the summer of 1973 on Cape Cod because The Eagles song of the same name was on all the jukeboxes or did I drink Tequila Sunrises because they were sweet and pretty? I’m not sure. But while my friend Jeffrey and I played 8-ball in bars, we drank a lot of them.
These were the years when tequila was rarely “enjoyed” on its own. If you drank tequila straight, you did shots. You put salt on your hand, tossed back the tequila and then jammed a lime in your mouth. Clearly, you had no interest in tasting the tequila; you had interest in its hallucinogenic properties.
We live in a world now where premium tequilas are served in flights like a scotch tasting. In 1973, we never dreamed of sipping tequila like a fine whiskey and we had never heard the word anejo.
One of the many obnoxious things I do is sit down in an upscale Mexican restaurant and announce to the server, “I believe you make a drink here called “a margarita.”
The best margarita I recall was made at a place in Galena called El Dorado. It was small. Served up. Very little mixer. As delicious as it was lethal.
I make two kinds of margarita. For the first I pour a jigger of tequila into a cocktail shaker with a healthy squeeze of Agave syrup and a jigger of fresh squeezed lime juice. I add a splash of Grand Marnier or Cointreau. Fill the shaker with ice. Shake it up and pour it into a martini glass.
What kind of tequila. A very good kind. Life is short.
The Brehmer Frozen Margarita is consumed in mass quantities at our family reunion. After a long day at the beach with our throats parched from romps in the ocean, we get out the blender.
A container of frozen limeade. Use the same container to measure out the tequila. Then add a little more tequila. Then add just a little more tequila. Evil brother David likes to add a little orange juice to mitigate the tartness of the limeade. Some Cointreau. Fill the blender with ice until it is at the same level as the fluids. Blend until it is smooth icy deliciousness.
Take your margarita out on the porch and look at the view.
What is the best margarita you’ve ever had?